Beam delivery systems (e.g., sensor beam, laser beam, etc.) have generally been mounted in pods on the exterior of an aircraft, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle, a helicopter, or a fixed wing aircraft. Stowing mechanisms and features are generally used on the pod to protect the primary windows of the beam delivery system during take-off and landing of the aircraft. The pod itself generally remains outside the aircraft in the windstream. Typically, when the entire system must be protected, deployment mechanisms are used to move the turret from a storage bay of the aircraft into the windstream. With these mechanisms the storage bay volume is empty during system deployment, but the storage bay cannot be used for other components due to the need of the space during system retraction. In other configurations of the system, the predominant axis is roll, with azimuth and elevation gimbals nestled within the roll windscreen. In these configurations, the forward look angle is limited to the window length and, generally, cannot be extended to near forward look angles.
In other designs of the system, an on-axis telescope is utilized with an auto-alignment system to align the sensor system and/or beam delivery system with a target. The use of the on-axis telescope simplifies the auto-alignment system. However, a central obscuration created by a secondary mirror results in a matching hole in the output beam. The on-axis telescope configuration, generally, does not operate correctly for beam systems that produce a solid beam profile with no central obscuration. An off-axis, unobscured telescope for the beam delivery system overcomes this problem.
Thus, a need exists in the art for improved retractable rotary turret and/or rapidly deployable high energy laser beam delivery system.